Amphibia Review: Grubhog Day / Hop Pop and Lock

"Don't stare into the abyss, Anne. After all, it stares back."

Following yesterday's spoils, perhaps there's some disappointment to be felt in "Grubhog Day" and "Hop Pop and Lock," two episodes that very well could've happened far earlier. They don't acknowledge the changes that "Toad Tax" afforded Anne in her place in the community, most noticeably, even though it's not a necessary factor into the episodes themselves, but that still leaves room to feel somewhat disappointed by the gesture that the show was seeming to make. Either way, today's batch isn't bad—just pleasant, if unremarkable.

"Grubhog Day" is definitely the more conventional episode, and probably one of the most straightforward yet: Hop Pop makes Sprig watch over the Grubhog, Amphibia's warped take on Groundhog Day's groundhog. In traditional fashion, though, Anne convinces Sprig of a middle ground, with them taking the creature out of its cage and celebrating a day at the fairgrounds with it. Naturally, this backfires as badly as you would expect, with the Grubhog being captured by a bird and flown away.

It's an episode that works by virtue of its adherence to the show's formula, and while there's certainly room for a few welcome surprises—the reveal that part of the tradition of the holiday is slicing up the Grubhog and looking at its innards for weather predictions, and that the Grubhog being captured was actually part of an elaborate escape plan on the Grubhog's part as he flies, with an uncertain future, into war—there's only so much "Grubhog Day" can do to elevate itself from being a straightforward little romp.

It would've been nice, at the very least, to see a little bit of change in the series' continuity to at least give the episode a time and place, though: Mayor Toadstool still seems fairly beloved, for instance, which just feels like an oversight given that he just embezzled the entire town's taxes. As it stands, this whole episode feels like something of a waste.

"I feel like I'm gonna faint! Can frogs faint?! I don't know anything anymore!"

"Hop Pop and Lock," at the very least, fiddles with some new ideas, as well as acknowledging some changes in the show's narrative, namely Hop Pop's loss of his vegetable stand. It's interesting how there hasn't really been much of an explanation for Hop Pop's past and how Sprig and Polly lack a mother figure, but here, we at least get a taste of the old flames of his youth in the form of Sylvia, a woman whom he has always been infatuated with but never had the gall to admit his feelings for. We also get an introduction to his rival, Monroe, a smooth-talking, confident frog who basically embodies everything that Hop Pop isn't.

Ultimately, Hop Pop decides to break the ice by enlisting Anne's help to learn how to pop and lock in hopes of impressing Sylvia at a town dance. It's a fun opportunity for Amphibia to pull off some great physical humor, mining laughs from the inherent comedy of watching Hop Pop repeatedly fail to do cool dance moves in the worst ways possible. This is an episode as dedicated to sweet character development as it is to slapstick, and both end up keeping "Hop Pop and Lock" afloat in spite of its conventional narrative. Plus, the reveal that Sylvia is just as much of a hectic freestyle dancer as Hop Pop, even if somewhat easy to predict, still lands in its silliness; the animators and storyboard artists had a field day playing around with this one, and that sense of fun radiates off of every nook and cranny.

Amphibia can be bold, though it can also feel comfortable, but at the very least, it's always excited about what it's doing, and that means a lot.

FINAL GRADES:
-"Grubhog Day": C+.
-"Hop Pop and Lock": B.

For the last set of Amphibia reviews for "Toad Tax" and "Prison Break," CLICK HERE.

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